Is Matt Hardy's Halted Push a Result of Injuries or Immaturity?

Before I get started, I would like to say that I am a fan of Matt Hardy.

When I was younger, my friends and I were HUGE fans of the Hardy Boyz. We watched them like hawks and wanted to be just like them.

My cousin and I were probably the biggest fans of them out of everyone I knew. My cousin wanted to be Jeff Hardy every time, while I stuck to being Matt. I always thought Jeff was more exciting, but Matt was the better Hardy brother.

Matt seemed to be the logical thinker, the one who would go to the high-flying moves when needed, but he didn't only rely on that like Jeff did. Matt could easily hit the big high spot, but he relied on his mat skills just as much.

Matt was always better on the mic than Jeff and gave great promos to get the fans pumped before and after matches. Matt was just always better to me, which is why I was a bigger fan of his than Jeff's. But I can't hate Jeff whatsoever.

During his storyline with Jeff last year, Matt evolved into someone I thought could be the face of a WWE brand.

But then just when it seemed he was on the role of his career, he got hurt. Matt was looking like a main event heel at the time, but with the injuries he sustained, he fell out of the WWE spotlight for a while. When he finally came back, he was out of shape and put back in low mid-cards.

Now Matt Hardy may be a bit out of shape, but he has been looking better as of late, so we should bring that up about him. I am pleasantly surprised to see how good Matt looks now compared to when he came back.

I know what Matt was going through at the time he was hurt. I've had stomach issues myself, so I know how hard it is to get back into the life you were once living. For him to even get back in the ring after it all should be applauded. This man went through something many of us couldn't handle well.

To add to such amazement, he went back into a WWE ring, where he takes contact to the abdominal area all the time. Many of us in his position would have never gone back into a ring, and if we did, we wouldn't have gone back just a few months after the issue happened.

He claimed to be dealing with stomach problems his whole life, so this injury must have taken a lot out of him for him to miss time. One can only imagine the pain Hardy had to be in. However, before this, Hardy's arm was hurt. It seemed right when that ended, this one began. It was an injury-filled year for Matt.

So I, for one, am glad to see him back, because it's basically a miracle he is there.

People keep saying that Matt is not getting out of mid-cards right now because he came back from an injury, and all people coming back from injury have their pushes stalled, right?

I think this is completely stupid. Anyone ever heard of Edge? Who WON THE ROYAL RUMBLE? He just got back from an Achilles tendon injury for which he missed a ton of time. He missed more than Matt Hardy did, in fact.

Sure, these men are big names in the WWE. But Hardy is as well known as Batista and Randy Orton, yet he has never been a World Champion. I don't want to hear that he has been ECW Champion and that makes him a former World Champion. That's garbage—we all know that it was not a world title. It hasn't been treated as one since 2007.

Hardy has only held secondary singles title gold on top of his numerous tag title reigns, so for people to say that he cannot be in the main event scene because of injury makes me wonder if they really know WWE's history involving that.

I feel Hardy is well worth the main event scene.

However, we should keep a few things in mind that may help us understand why Hardy hasn't gotten his chance.

Rumor has it that Matt Hardy has asked for his release numerous times from the WWE since mid-2009, and right before the papers are completed and filed, Hardy will decline to sign and go about his WWE schedule.

Hardy has a good mind for the business. He knows what goes on with management as good as anyone there. He's been there for over 10 years, so that makes sense.

If you remember, Rey Mysterio re-signed with the WWE in 2008. He signed a smaller deal than the one he had previously because he just got off another injury, one that kept him out for some time.

Rey Rey thought that taking the lower deal would be fine because he made a percentage off his merchandise. Because his merch was one of the highest selling in the WWE, it wasn't a bad thing to lose some in the contract initially.

But the issue was that he signed this new WWE deal just a few months before the American economy went down, which basically meant this: All that money he would have made off merch went down huge. Then his contract was lower, so that didn't do any good for him either.

Hardy knows this as much as anyone, so I'm guessing he's showing the WWE that he knows he could leave the WWE at any time, and by losing him, they lose a lot.

He has also been said to be immature backstage quite a bit, and on top of that, he has angered the WWE through some of his social networking. The messages were taken down every time by the WWE or Hardy, but every time it seemed like another strike for Hardy.

Matt is still with the WWE, but he of course wants another WWE contract. I'm sure he wants it to be a larger deal, or at the very least, the same as the one before.

Hardy's immaturity through all of this probably doesn't sit well with the WWE, which could be why Hardy hasn't been used the way he was this time last year.

I am happy to see Hardy still wrestling, and I feel he deserves to be pushed better. But if the rumors are true that he has been a backstage nuisance and that he has been a pain on WWE legal, then I can understand why the WWE is using him the way they are.

But what do you think? Is Hardy's push halted because of his immaturity, or should the WWE push the over superstar far better?